The Air War Over Ukraine - Drone Attack in a NATO Country
In this episode of the series, we cover the period from August 1 to August 31, 2026. During this period, there was a serious escalation outside Ukrainian territory, when an attempt was made to attack a Ukrainian An-124 aircraft with an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig Airport in Germany. Berlin accused the Russian intelligence service of being behind the incident. This was the first deliberate drone attack involving explosives on the territory of a NATO member state.
Miro Barič
Drone Attack in a NATO Country
In this episode of the series, we cover the period from August 1 to August 31,
2026. During this period, there was a serious escalation outside Ukrainian
territory, when an attempt was made to attack a Ukrainian An-124 aircraft with an
explosive-laden drone at Leipzig Airport in Germany. Berlin accused the Russian
intelligence service of being behind the incident. This was the first deliberate
drone attack involving explosives on the territory of a NATO member state.
The Air War Over Ukraine
During the night from Tuesday, August 4, to
Wednesday, August 5, Leipzig Airport in Germany
became the target of a coordinated attack involving
several drones. The airport serves as a strategic
NATO base for transportation to eastern member
states and, since the Russian invasion, also for
transporting military aid to Ukraine. That aid was
the target, specifically a Ukrainian An-124 transport
aircraft. Camera footage showed that on the evening
of Tuesday, August 4, a drone approached the aircraft.
It was a quadcopter carrying 800 grams of Semtex
plastic explosive. The drone struck the wing of the
An-124 at a location where the fuel tank is situated,
but it did not explode. A subsequent investigation
showed that it had a faulty detonator. The drone
bounced off the aircraft‘s wing and fell to the ground.
There, it was found lying on the ground by an airport
bus driver, who raised the alarm. The airport was
closed and flights were diverted.
Another incident then occurred. A cargo Boeing
757 operated by European Air Transport Leipzig,
which was just approaching for landing, aborted the
maneuver and began climbing when, at an altitude of
400 meters, it collided with another drone. That drone
was probably carrying a camera and was intended
to record the aftermath of the attack on the An-124.
The Boeing 757 subsequently landed in Hanover with
a dent in its nose.
Around the time when the first drone struck the
wing of the An-124 in Leipzig, there was also an
explosion in the abandoned village of Kunsdorf next
to the airport. Another drone apparently crashed into
the ground there and exploded. A third drone carrying
explosives was later found in a field west of the airport.
These attack drones were equipped with SIM cards.
This allowed them to be controlled from practically
anywhere on the planet while also enabling them to
bypass the airport‘s anti-drone protection system,
which identified them as an ordinary mobile phone.
German investigators concluded that Russia was
behind the attack. According to German media, two
Belarusian and Lithuanian citizens were identified as
suspects; they also hold Russian passports. However,
they could not be detained. U.S. authorities likewise
stated that, according to all the findings, the Russian
intelligence service was behind the attempted attack.
Less than a month later, the German government
formally accused Moscow of responsibility for the
incident and closed the Russian House in Berlin and
the Russian consulate in Bonn.
This represents a serious escalation. Although
there have been numerous arson attacks in Europe
in recent years for which Russia has been blamed,
it had previously been more restrained when it came
to drone incidents. Drones had been used only to
test defensive responses or to disrupt operations
at airports and other important facilities. In Leipzig,
however, drones carrying explosives were used for
the first time on the territory of a NATO member state.
Since we mentioned arson attacks, there was also
an attempted attack in Slovakia during the period
under review. On Tuesday, August 25, police foiled it
and detained three suspects. A fourth was detained
later. They were reportedly two Latvian citizens
and two Ukrainian citizens, who had been hired by
someone to set fire to a factory in Haniska near Prešov,
where the Ukrainian company Skyeton manufactures
drones. One of the suspects was arrested in Germany.
The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung later reported that both the incident in Leipzig
and the one near Prešov were allegedly the work of
a network belonging to Russia‘s military intelligence
service, the GRU, which recruits foreigners through
intermediaries in Europe to carry out such attacks.
According to sources in German security services
cited by the newspaper, one of the network‘s nodes is
located in Slovakia. Thus, in addition to the attempted
attack on the factory near Prešov itself, organizational
and logistical support for other operations in other
countries is also allegedly being coordinated from
Slovakia. For example, the arson attack in Munich,
Germany, after which two Bulgarian citizens were
arrested, was reportedly also directed from Slovakia.
llustrative image of an An-124 landing in Leipzig. The photograph is sourced from Wikimedia Commons / MarcelX42.
AIR WAR IN UKRAINE
INFO Eduard22
October 2026